We read with interest the article on the most recent accomplishments
in insect hovering research (Physics Today, December 2000, page 22.
We would like to draw attention to work published a decade earlier,1,2
which seems to have been missed by the author, that expressly resorted
to the same two-dimensional simplifications to investigate and explain
the essence of insect flight.
Over a decade ago, the complexities of insect flight so apparent in
the seminal paper by Christopher Somps and Marvin Luttges3
inspired us to design an experimental apparatus. It allowed
us to study 2D vortex shedding and thrust generation by an airfoil undergoing
translation and pitching that resembled insect wing motions during hovering
flight.1 Almost concurrently with the
experimental work, we realized that the hovering jet generated by the
physical model was amenable to computational Navier-Stokes simulations.2
The numerical simulations gave good agreement with measured results.
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